Project Long Chance was an old Earth sleeper ship launched in the early 21st century.
Service history and disposition[]
Long Chance departed Earth's orbit with a crew of 40 on reference stardate 0/0410.17. Personnel were placed in suspended animation with its crew sharing a directed dreaming experience managed by the main computer. Their stasis cycles were set to rotate in ten year intervals.
Beginning in the 2120s decade, the stasis chambers began malfunctioning, and by the 2270s, only Deborah McClintock, the vessel's engineer, remained alive.
In 2273, when the USS Enterprise encountered the vessel, the ship was intact with 70 percent of its fuel reserves. Willard Decker, Montgomery Scott and Hikaru Sulu beamed aboard and located McClintock's stasis chamber, but were then forced into the ship's directed dreaming. Eventually all four were revived, but McClintock died shortly afterward.
Captain James T. Kirk left a marker beacon alongside the drifting Long Chance when the Enterprise departed. (Phase II episode: "Practice in Waking")
Appendices[]
Background[]
Vessel specifics for Long Chance were unstated, making it possible that it was a DY-100 or variant, or it could have a similar configuration to the Earth sleeper ship seen in TOS comic: "Sceptre of the Sun".
Science officer Xon said Last Chance's launch on October 17, 2004 was Earth's last spacecraft launch prior to the introduction of warp drive. The comment may be consistent with Marla McGivers' statements about propulsion advances circa 2018 in TOS episode: "Space Seed", but not with Zephram Cochrane's history as established in TOS episode: "Metamorphosis". It also disagreed with later-established canon in the prime reality, such as the launches of ESS Charybdis in 2037 (TNG episode: "The Royale") and Phoenix in 2063 (TNG movie: Star Trek: First Contact). The launch date has therefore been presented as a reference stardate.